CASE STUDIES

Client Requirement

When faced with the problem of a marketplace in rapid downward spiral, one of the world’s largest oil companies took the decision to look at every option to reduce operational costs.

One of the areas of manageable cost that was identified as an opportunity where expenditure could be reduced was their vast fleet of offshore support vessels, where they were responsible for the costs of fuel used by the shipping contractor.

Operational Challenges

After assessing and reviewing the situation it was determined that an electronic fuel monitoring system (EFMS) it was agreed would be installed on every vessel, giving them an invaluable insight into where the fuel they were providing was being used – and crucially where savings might be made.

The IOC approached a number of EFMS providers and after a rigorous technical due diligence process nominated enginei as one of its approved technology vendors.

Based on the results achieved from the initial EFMS installations, the outcome was the implementation of an industry changing contract specification requiring all vessel owners to install an EFMS and thereby require them to become more aware of vessel performance and take greater responsibility for the fuel that was being supplied.

Impact

The strategy to implement EFMS in their fleet in one specific operational area has been so successful that the oil company involved is now rolling it out in other regions where they see similar opportunities for fuel improvement and cost control.

Client requirement

The client had adopted a campaign of environmental improvements.

As part of this ambition, the company developed plans to reduce carbon gas emissions and cut fuel expenditure through the installation of advanced fuel monitoring systems in all ten of its major passenger vessels.

The operator links destinations in some of the least polluted and unspoilt areas in Europe and wanted to demonstrate its commitment to the sensitive maritime environment. The aim was therefore to accurately monitor and report on the fuel consumed by each of a vessel’s engines, so that the most efficient operating parameters for individual ships could be determined and implemented.

Coriolis flowmeters were installed to accurately monitor the fuel being consumed by each of the vessels’ engines. The flow meters are linked to touch screen displays on the bridge and in the engine control room. On some vessels existing torque sensors were also connected to enginei so that power as well as fuel could be measured giving greater accuracy. In this way the ship’s master and chief engineer can not only monitor fuel consumptions in line with speed and power, but are also able, in real time, to identify any engine variations as they occur and make the appropriate adjustments.

An added feature was a special ETA detail on the display screen which was specifically included to enable the client to better manage the vessel’s arrival just on the scheduled time. Data output for each vessel is also supplied to the company’s HQ so that a complete analysis of vessel performance can be maintained in relation to weather, tidal and loading conditions, speed across the water and sea state.

Operational challenges

It was a specific requirement of the contract that the fuel monitoring systems had to be installed while the vessels remained in service through the busy summer season. The vessels have different routes with overnight stops on remote islands requiring considerable logistical issues to be overcome involving work planning, accommodation, engineers arriving on site etc. Also, as the vessels were operational, all work on the fuel pipelines had to be carried out overnight.

As a result, extremely tight deadlines had to be met in order to ensure that the vessels could remain on timetable. These challenges were successfully overcome and any delays or problems that would have caused considerable disruption to the ferries’ schedules and the travel plans of passengers were avoided.

Impact

The aim was to achieve a minimum 5% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and fuel expenditure. Early conservative indications from the client show that actual performance is likely to be in excess of this target, leading to anticipated annual fuel savings of more than £0.45 million and a reduction in CO₂ emissions of some 1,800 tonnes.

The client therefore expects to see significant benefits to its carbon footprint and bottom line financial performance. Installation costs are expected to be recouped in one year.

Client requirement

Client had existing flow meters installed on the main engines, however due to the sensitive environmental nature of where the vessel was to be contracted they wanted to prove to the charterer that they were doing as much as possible to reduce the environmental impact. A large part of this was to log and optimise fuel consumption. This required a visual display on the bridge in order to aid the Captain with efficient operation of the vessel. Bespoke enginei software was developed for the client both on the vessel and onshore to log how much fuel was consumed in each operating mode of the vessel such as Dynamic Positioning, Standby, Transit, Anchor Handling.

• enginei was installed to log the consumption readings from the existing meters as well as installing new meters on the auxiliary engines. Three displays were then installed, two on the bridge forward and aft and one in the engine control room.

Impact

Client now has a complete and accurate picture of fuel consumption on all engines. The vessel and operations team now know how much fuel is consumed in various operational modes and the master can use this information to optimise fuel consumption in DP mode altering position depending on the weather conditions as well as transiting and other working modes.

• The client now plans to fit all new builds with enginei.

Client requirement

Due to ever tightening emissions regulations and an increasingly difficult economic market the client had to start logging accurate fuel consumption data in order to optimise the vessel passages and have a reliable tool to contribute to their Ship Energy Efficiency Plan (SEEMP).

• A tailored on-board enginei software package was developed with a touchscreen computer mounted on the bridge. The Captain now logs ports, times, bunker cost, loaded or ballast, voyage notes and weather. All this information is then tied into the fuel consumption data; giving the operator very detailed fuel reports and trends.

Impact

The client is now able to accurately establish a baseline consumption for its various passages and the optimum speed for those passages depending on weather conditions. They found after 6 months of recording the data that their recommended steaming speed was actually half a knot to a knot too high on certain classes of vessel. By finding that optimum speed they are now looking at considerable reductions on fuel consumption of up to 4% over 12 months.

• All data is packaged as part of their SEEMP.

Client requirement

• Driven by an industry trying to take action on a vast and complicated issue of fuel misuse and steered by the clients charterer, a solution was required where fuel consumption could be measured on all diesel consumers as well as measuring bunker loading and discharge; providing the client a complete and accurate overview of fuel usage.

• Coriolis meters were installed on the supply and return lines of all engines and a bi-directional meter installed on the main load and discharge bunker line. Via a small fuel gauge in the wheelhouse enginei software gives the crew daily total fuel consumption and bunker totals. This figure is then used by the Captain to log their consumption for the charterer and is the exact figure that the charterer and the client sees remotely via the enginei online management website. There are now no discrepancies over fuel usage between the vessel and the operator and the charterer.

Impact

• Time consuming paperwork and communications between the charterer and the operator over fuel consumption discrepancies are now solved.

• Significant reductions in fuel usage have been seen.

• The charterer is satisfied and the client is winning more contracts.

Client Requirement

A European HQ’d offshore and terminal operator with a large OSV fleet in Africa was under pressure to improve fuel consumption to maintain the confidence and support of their oil major client. Any failure to identify and implement appropriate operational improvements carried the risk of potentially losing support contracts.

To address this need the fleet owner asked the enginei team to assess the situation and carry out a full review of the fuel performance characteristics of the vessels.

Operational Challenges

To fully understand the situation an enginei team visited the country of operation to carry out comprehensive vessel surveys. As part of a comprehensive investigation and situation analysis, local market research was undertaken and the relevant issues identified for both the vessel owner and the end client.

To accurately monitor and report on the fuel consumed by individual engines and vessels, enginei designed an integrated EFMS solution and deployed an engineering team to install the vessel systems vessels in the country of operation.

The advanced fuel monitoring system developed enabled fuel consumption to be monitored effectively and automatically, enabling optimum operating conditions to be maintained.

Impact

The client was so impressed with the results that they installed enginei electronic fuel monitoring systems (EFMS) across their entire fleet of 20 vessels.

In doing so, rather than losing important IOC support contracts as originally feared, the operator won additional business with the oil majors on the basis of being ambitious and investing in technology to improve fuel consumption. The outcome was therefore mutual gains for everyone involved – new business contracts for the fleet operator, the introduction of a new culture of accountability within the company and considerable savings for their oil industry clients.